BREAKING: An Extremely Rare Green Comet Is Visiting Earth And You Can See it Withy Naked Eye

The 6km-wide space sphere (known as 96P/Machholz 1) is thought to have come from somewhere outside the Solar System and is being tracked by the Sun's Solar and Heliosphere Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. The European Space Agency (ESA) as it sped toward Earth inside Mercury's orbit, leaving an icy trail in its path.

96P/Machholz 1 captured by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) spacecraft.

Comet tails are mainly composed of gas, which flows behind blocks of ice and frozen gas as they are heated by the Sun's radiation. In 2008, an analysis of material released by 150 comets revealed that 96P/Machholz 1 contained less than 1.5% of the expected levels of the chemical cyanogen, while also being low in carbon-making The astronomers concluded that it could be an interstellar object from another Solar System. Now, its plunge towards the Sun could reveal even more of its secrets.

"96P is an atypical comet, both in composition and behavior, so we never know exactly what we might see. Hopefully we can get some insights. great science from this and share it with everyone as soon as possible," said Karl Battams, astrophysicist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC.

David Machholz first discovered the comet of the same name in 1986 using a homemade cardboard telescope. Most comets that fall towards the Sun tend to be less than 10m, and therefore burn up as they approach Earth.

However, Machholz 1's enormous size (more than two-thirds the height of Mount Everest) seems to protect it from complete evaporation, and SOHO detected the comet making five close passes around the Sun. since its discovery.

Its closest approach to the Sun will take place on January 31 when it will be close to Earth at a distance more than three times closer than Mercury.

The comet may have found itself in its strange orbit after being ejected from the original Solar System by the gravity of a giant planet. Then, after a considerable amount of time wandering through space, a chance encounter with Jupiter may have bent its orbit to entangle it around the Sun.

Other theories suggest that the comet may not be an alien object, but may have formed in poorly understood regions of the Solar System or exploded its cyanide during iterations. journey around the Svп.

SOHO has detected more than 3,000 comets since its December 1995 launch, although the spacecraft's main mission is to observe the Sun for violent eruptions known as coronal mass eruptions., or solar flares that can cause geomagnetic storms on Earth.

The most powerful of these storms could disrupt Earth's magnetic field enough to cause satellites to crash down on Earth, and scientists have warned that intense geomagnetic storms could even destroy the Earth's magnetic field. Internet paralysis.